It was a magical evening at the Llewellyn Hall as the enchanting Angus and Julia Stone stopped by to impart their folk wizardry on the audience.
It has only been six months since Angus and Julia made the somewhat misguided decision to play at the ANU bar. This time around their venue choice was more informed, and the Australian National University’s Llewellyn hall the perfect setting.
Chosen as the support act were the Australian acoustic-folk duo Luluc. It was a dainty and pleasant way to start the evening, yet I couldn’t help but feel there was no real substance to their set. Having said this, their short set was saved from monotony by the interjections of Steve Hassett, who provided the set with humour and melodic guitar lines.
It was a painful wait as the excitement grew in the hall, but the tension was released when the sold-out auditorium erupted in cheers as Angus and Julia walked onto stage. From their first song, Santa Monica Dream, the brother/sister duo cast their spell over the audience.
After the intimate opening song from their new album Down the Way, the full band emerged onto the stage, resembling a folk fairytale. Drummer, Matt Johnson sat down beneath the long arms of a large tree that framed the right of the stage, whilst bassist Brad Albetta stood next to a rustic lamp post.
Long-time fans were satisfied with performances of older folk-anthems such as Mango Tree and Private Lawns. These tunes were given a new spin with Julia’s pseudo-rapping the last verse of Private Lawns, an unlikely highlight of the evening.
The band is currently half-way through their national tour, and Canberra audiences were lucky enough to be treated to two new tracks, written on the road in the last few weeks. Julia’s untitled new song was the highlight of the evening. It showed off her often under-rated lyrical guise, and the intimacy of the duos music. With soaring falsetto harmonies from Angus, and a guitar used as a piece of percussion, the tale of Julia’s recent heart-break resounded with the audience.
The whole evening was full of twists and turns, with Julia again performing the Grease cover, The One That I Want much to the delight of the packed house.
A seemingly endless stream of confetti ended the magical evening as the stripped back duo ended with a much loved, emotional classic, Wasted.
It was an enthralling evening, and one Canberra audiences will no doubt have trouble forgetting.
Photos by Chris Whitfield
